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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28633629">red</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/'>Anonymous</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Among Us (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Blood and Gore, Crack Treated Seriously, Crewmate Turned Impostor (Among Us), F/F, Human Crewmate(s) (Among Us), Murder, The Author Regrets Everything, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, This was supposed to be a harmless little warmup now look at it, Why Did I Write This?</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:42:44</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,404</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28633629</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Blue never cared much for the color red.<br/>But, then again, that was before she met her.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Crewmate/Impostor (Among Us)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Anonymous</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>red</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey hi hello thanks for checking in<br/>Why did I post this? Dunno. It was originally supposed to be a quick little warmup and then it turned into this 7000 word monstorsity. It exists now, though, so I guess I have to deal with it.<br/>Now, just to make some things absolutely clear;<br/>- This work includes explicit swearing and graphic descriptions of violence. It that makes you uncomfotable, I would recommend clicking off of it.<br/>- The relationship depicted in this is toxic as hell. Please do not lie to your partner. Please do not murder people, too. I am in no way endorsing this.<br/>Anyhow, hope you enjoy?<br/>(Heavily influenced by me listening to Hozier while writing, specifically to Angel of small death and the codeine scene and From Eden, so... you can listen to it as you go I suppose)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>She never particularly cared for the color red.</p><p>Not like a person can care much for a color, of course. She, at least, never did. Not in the way some of her fellow crewmates did, not in the way their headquarters did. She couldn't understand why it was so important that their suits were colored differently from one another, or that not one color could repeat, or that she absolutely had to stick with her own for the whole time she was on the ship, but then again, she didn't mind it enough to complain.</p><p><em>Look, Blue,</em> <strong>she</strong> would say, and Blue would hear the smile in her voice as she spoke. <em>It's not just the codenames. Okay, it's also the codenames, sure, but it's also a bit of fun, innit? It'd be so horribly dull if we all wore the same suit, don't you think?</em></p><p><em>Probably,</em> Blue would answer flatly while she reconnected yet another broken wire (Jesus, why did this ship have so many broken wires). <em>Dunno.</em></p><p>Her crewmate would shrug. <em>Suit yourself,</em> she'd say, and then they would fall into silence again, and then-</p><p><em>Besides,</em> and that was when Blue would look at her, and that was when her heart would stop because she was looking right back at her, and then she would keep smiling and she'd say <em>besides... Blue really- it looks really good on you, you know?</em></p><p>She wouldn't know how to respond.</p><p>But that was okay.</p><p>Red always did the talking for the both of them.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Blue never cared much for the color red.</p><p>But that was before she met <em>her</em>.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The first time Hailey Moore met Olivia Peters, it was in a training facility.</p><p>Hailey was sloped over a wooden bench just outside the base, a paper cup half-filled with lukewarm tea loosely held between her fingers. It was a Tuesday, and, by her standards, not even a particularly special one, and she was just sitting there and drinking her tea and thinking.</p><p>And then, the bench rattled, and a small voice spoke up: "Can I sit here?"</p><p>Hailey startled and looked up.</p><p>The woman sitting to her right was shorter than her, but considering Hailey's nearly freakish height, that didn't mean much. More built as well, but then again, compared to her scrawny ass that didn't mean much either. She was sitting there with the energy of an introvert at a particularly crowded party, playing with the sleeve of her NASA hoodie as she stared at her with those big grey eyes, almost as if looking for permission despite the fact that they were both grown adults at a top-secret military base.</p><p>It occured to her, only after about a minute of awkward staring, that it would be a good idea to perhaps answer the question.</p><p>She cleared her throat. "Uh, yeah, sure." She took a small pause. "Not like anyone's sitting there."</p><p>The woman next to her brightened up a bit and nodded, leaning back into the seat and sighing heavily: "Thanks. For a second I thought I'd actually have to go back inside and socialize."</p><p>She couldn't help but to relax as well at that. "Mood," Hailey muttered under her breath, and the blond snorted.</p><p>"Hey, it's my last week on Earth, let me enjoy it," she said, putting her hands behind her head and leaning back into them just as Hailey's eyebrows rose in a mixture of surprise and disbelief.</p><p>
  <em>Last week.</em>
</p><p>"Last week?"</p><p>The blond froze, as if suddenly remembering something. She went as pale as the paper cup of tea in Hailey's hands. "I... wasn't supposed to say that." Those grey eyes turned to look at Hailey very sharply. “If you could, uh, forget what I just said, that would be-“</p><p>But Hailey cut her off. "You're going to planet UR#2?" she continued, shifting slightly to face the other woman even more. "The one that has proof of intelligent life? Two year mission, not one hundred percent guaranteed return?"</p><p>It was now the blond's turn to look at Hailey in disbelief. A beat of silence, then two, then three, and then she asked: "I'm... assuming you're coming with?"</p><p>Hailey slowly nodded. "Yeah. I'm a mechanic."</p><p>Yet another beat of silence, and then, the smaller woman chuckled, the sound filled to the brim with pleasant surprise. She ran her hand through her long blond hair before suddenly extending it towards Hailey and saying: "Well, then, I suppose introductions are in order." When she smiled, her eyes crinkled until they were almost closed. "I'm Olivia. Nice to meet you, fellow crewmate."</p><p>And Hailey, despite contemplating her existence just seconds before, smiled sincerely, and took the offered palm.</p><p>"Hailey. Right back at you."</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Her hands were shaking.</p><p>Funny, that. Her hands never shook. Hailey Moore, or Blue as she was now called, was taken onboard exactly because she was skilled enough of an engineer. Her whole damn job depended on her hands being still. And her hands <em>were</em> still, just like she always was - Blue was undeterrable, Blue was focused, Blue didn't shake.</p><p>And yet, her hands were shaking.</p><p>So much, in fact, that the knife in her hand fell to the floor with a loud clang.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The first time Blue met Red, it was on a planet months of travel away from Earth.</p><p>She was laying on the ground beneath the towering figures of the planet's very own rainforest as soft afternoon light fell through the leaves and down on the harsh jungle floor. It was quite beautiful, to be honest; however, since Blue was currently lying unconscious after having been jumped by an alien predator, and since Red had been desperately trying to wake her up for the last few minutes, the swirls of light were the last thing on both their minds.</p><p>"Blue? Blue, are you okay? Oh shit, oh fuck, what did that thing <em>do</em> to you-"</p><p>The <em>thing</em> in question ignored the pleas for help from the creature towering above. It was too busy insinuating itself in its host's memories to take notice of it. It was hard to do anything, frankly, while you were reliving an entire life and personality while the person they belonged to screamed and struggled against it.</p><p>The parasite didn't mind. It shouldn't take too long now.</p><p>When the strange creatures first came to their planet, the thing (along with the rest of its Hive) was given direct orders not to engage with them at any costs. The creatures seemed to be fairly harmless at first, after all - walking around on their hind apendages while picking and examining the rocks and the plants and the small empty shells of deceased animals the Hive had eaten. They were unknown, they were strange, they were harmless and yet they were - frankly speaking - absolutely terrifying, and all in all the parasite didn't want to see them up close anyway</p><p>It distinctly remembered watching the brightly colored creatures from a distance while waiting for them to go away so that it could hunt in peace. It shifted its many tentacles nervously, feeling the urge to growl whenever one of the creatures strayed too far away from its group, feeling the urge to attack whenever they came near its hole and only holding back from jumping on one of them because the Hive ordered them not to. It remembered not understanding why anyone would want to engage with those weird, smelly creatures from somewhere far away, and it remembered feeling just a tiny bit scared.</p><p>However.</p><p>However, now, worming its tentacles deep into its hosts's brain, forcing her memories out of her, seeing the woman grow up like the creature itself never had the opportunity to, seeing her planet, seeing her world in all of its beauty and horror- feeling the companionship between the humans that came to its planet, the annoyance its host felt while looking at a human wearing green, the respect while seeing one wearing orange, the pure affection while looking at one particular human wearing red-</p><p>Now it understood why the Hive finally gave them permission to engage.</p><p>"Blue? Blue?! Hailey!"</p><p>It understood enough.</p><p><em>She</em> understood enough.</p><p>"Hailey, please, please wake up..."</p><p>But Hailey Moore was dead.</p><p>And Blue opened her eyes for the very first time.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Blue didn't know when her legs gave out. She was pretty sure it was soon after her hand did, but her perception of time in that moment was so warped she couldn't be sure.</p><p>All she knew was that she was kneeling on the floor now, apparently.</p><p>Interesting concept, time. She never got used to it, much as she tried. It was such a big shift from the creature Blue used to be; it was just so foreign to her, and she could tell that it was foreign to others of her kind on the ship as well.</p><p>Blue, however, prided herself on being adaptable. She moved past the obstacles that were her origins and she sucked it up and got used to things in a way Cyan or Pink never seemed to do - or want to do, really.</p><p>Stubborn closed-in fake bastards. The both of them.</p><p>She would always feel the judgemental look on her neck whenever she would walk around in the early morning hours, waking everyone up like Hailey never did before Blue came around. She would feel Pink watch her learn how to play chess with Orange, one figure at a time. She would feel Cyan's attempts of forcing his presence into her mind as she cooked with Lime, or as she spent time with Red. She would feel their stares as she tried to stray beyond faking the identity she tore away from her host without knowing what she was doing, but doing it anyway.</p><p>She felt them, and she didn't care.</p><p>Because Blue was adaptable to being human in a way her own kind never seemed to want to be.</p><p>And it was all because of <em>her</em>.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Blue had been wearing her human skin for about an hour when she made her first ever free choice. It was a memory she could vividly remember no matter how much time has passed, as that event meant feeling a lot of new things that she had never felt before; trepidation, excitement, happiness, even.</p><p>But most of all, for the whole duration of it, she was just very, very confused.</p><p>"No!" Purple yelled, swinging his arms violently in the air. "We can't just stay here after whatever the fuck that was! We have enough data, it's not an issue, we have to go back!"</p><p>"We aren't leaving three months early!" Black argued, her eyes gleaming behind the grey plexiglass of her helmet. They had been going at each other for at least fifteen minutes now and seemed to have no intentions of stopping, despite Orange's many attempts to break them apart.</p><p>"Three people were attacked, Black!"</p><p>"And they're all fine and conscious now, aren't they?"</p><p>Blue barely faked a cough to hide a laugh - or at least, what the remainders of the human's brain told her was a laugh. She blinked for a second, confused by her own voice being manipulated in such a way.</p><p>And then there was an arm touching her. "Hey, are you okay?"</p><p>It was Red. Of course it was.</p><p>She'd known the human for less than an hour, and yet, in that hour, all Red had done was drag her to the ship, get her to the medic immediately and then stare at her with some strange emotion Blue wasn't capable of reading just yet. She was looking at her constatly, almost as if afraid her friend would disappear if she looked away.</p><p>Friend.</p><p>What a strange word.</p><p>The two continued to argue: "Headquarters aren't responding right now and all of the people onboard are fine!"</p><p>"They're not fucking fine-"</p><p>"How would we know-"</p><p>"Oh, like you would-"</p><p>"Oh, pussy up!"</p><p>"This isn't a fucking game, Black-"</p><p>Then, suddenly, Orange slammed his hands onto the table and yelled: "Shut <em>up</em>!"</p><p>All the humans snapped to attention immediately. So much so, in fact, that they all missed how three members of the crew reacted just a tad too slowly.</p><p>Thank god.</p><p>"Look," Orange said, his voice grave and his posture rimrod straight as he looked at the crew with a gaze that reminded Blue a bit too much of the collective weight of Hive's eyes on her. She tensed without knowing why. "Look, the facts are as follows; there's some dangerous creatures here that we don't know jack shit about. They just attacked three of us. We have no idea if they're violent enough to come back or not, and we also don't have anything to defend ourselves with."</p><p>Green cleared her throat from the back. "We have guns."</p><p>Orange raised an eyebrow. "And how do we know guns work on these things?"</p><p>A silence settled upon the room, and in that silence everyone had time to think about what was being said - even Purple and Black settled down from where they were about to start throwing punches. Blue could just taste the fact that this orange-coloured creature was in charge, could do so from the moment he started speaking, could see so from the way no one dared interrupt him.</p><p>Respect.</p><p>Another new concept to her.</p><p>"Look, I say we vote," the designated leader of the ship said in a tired voice. "Democracy and all that. I will not judge any of you on what you decide - this is a matter that concerns the whole crew, not just me."</p><p>Brown shifted where he was standing and muttered: "Sounds fair."</p><p>More vague, muffled sounds of agreement came from the room.</p><p>Choices.</p><p>How in the everloving fuck was she supposed to make choices?</p><p>And that was when for the first time since arriving onto the craft, Blue dared to look over at Pink and Cyan.</p><p>They were standing in the corner of the room by themselves, bandaged up appropriately just as she was. They looked like they were simply enjoying the closeness of one another after a very near miss, as if everything was the same as before - from Hailey's memories she knew that the two were brothers, twins even, so that much was understandable.</p><p>What the others couldn't see, however, was the sickeningly quiet pulse of something beneath their flesh - of something foreign moving underneath it, of something she knew didn't belong there, of something that shone through Cyan's eyes as he made eye contact with her, of something that flashed them red.</p><p>"Okay then," Orange said, looking at the crew again. "All in favor of staying here?"</p><p>Black, Green and Yellow all hesitantly raised their hands. White seemed to want to for a moment, but upon seeing that they were naturally outnumbered, his hand went down.</p><p>Blue stared at the two other impostors on the ship.</p><p>Neither of them raised their hands.</p><p>"All opposed?"</p><p>Six hands raised, only four of which belonged to the original crew of the ship.</p><p>Blue was still frozen for a few seconds afterwards</p><p>Red was staring at her, she knew - she could feel it, feel the strange thing in the other's expression she couldn't identify as worry yet, not just yet. She knew, and yet she didn't look back.</p><p>She was too busy looking at her two fellow impostors across the room, raising their hands in favor of leaving their planet behind and going to a new one, both looking back at her in a silent message, a silent order.</p><p>Blue raised her hand.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>There was a sound leaving her throat that she had no control over.</p><p>She didn't care. She couldn't care. She couldn't do anything but kneel there and let the uncontrollable sounds leave her.</p><p>This wasn't supposed to happen.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The thing is, everything was doing great.</p><p>The first breakfast they had after they had left the planet prematurely was a little awkward, sure, but it just went uphill from there. The crew seemed to have bonded over the experience of being in mortal danger - they almost constantly stuck together, even when training, even when doing tasks, never alone or at least never unaccounted for. It made communication with the other two impostors pretty much impossible, sure, but to be completely honest, Blue stopped caring about that soon after they left the planet.</p><p>They were just three creatures hiding in the midst of humans wearing human skins. There was absolutely no reason why they should communicate more, now, even if there should've been some camaraderie between them from the fact that they were all aliens to the creatures around them. They just... existed, together, sharing a look or a word every once in a while, but nothing beyond that.</p><p>It confused Blue at first.</p><p>However, it stopped mattering after a while.</p><p>She would say that the turning point for that came the day after she was released from the medbay, deemed completely healed by Brown and able to return to her normal duties immediately.</p><p>She was in electrical doing a maintenance check-up when it happened. She was glad that she had Hailey's memories with her, because otherwise, she would've gotten completely lost amidst all of the wires around her, every single one of them with a designated purpose.</p><p>Humans were so inventive, sure, but they could be just so complicated sometimes.</p><p>It was when she was just about to close up the fuse box that the door behind her opened, prompting Blue to look at it, and Red to step in.</p><p>They stared at each other for a moment before Red quietly said: "Hey."</p><p>Blue blinked. "Hello, Red."</p><p>Red fidgeted in place for a minute, looking between Blue and the wires behind her almost nervously. She finally cleared her throat as she looked behind the mechanic: "So, uh, watcha doing?"</p><p>Blue glanced at the open fuse box once again before adressing the other. "Check-up," she said honestly, shutting the little door for good and turing the lock so that it clicked in place. "I'm just finishing up."</p><p>"Ah," said Red and nodded before returning to her shifting. She watched Blue stand up and dust herself off, opening her mouth every now and then as if she wanted to say something but couldn't find the courage to. She cleared her throat again. "So... you're okay, now?"</p><p>Blue slowly turned to face the other astronaut, a bit confused. "Yeah," she said, slowly.</p><p>"Oh, good! That's good."</p><p>Silence.</p><p>Blue felt the sudden urge to cross her arms. She didn't. "What's up?" she asked instead, very thankful for the fact that Hailey's vocabulary and tone were always extremely brisk and therefore very easy to copy in situations like this one.</p><p>Red finally stopped shifting at that. She gulped. "Uh," she started uncertainly, "uh, I was just... I wanted to ask if you have any time, maybe?"</p><p>Blue's eyebrows rose, but she still found the energy and will to answer without letting her surprise come through. "I... do?"</p><p>"Oh!" Red said, looking a bit less anxious than a second before. "Uh, well, I just, uh, wanted to ask you if you maybe wanted to go train with me?"</p><p>Blue blinked. She stood still, completely baffled by the current situation.</p><p>And yet, she almost automatically responded: "Sure."</p><p>Red suddenly lit up and it was like the sun entered the room.</p><p>"Great!" she exclaimed, a tad too loudly, before she cleared her throat and continued in a more acceptable tone: "I mean, uh, that's super nice, great, uh... Meet you there in ten minutes?"</p><p>Blue just nodded mutely, shocked at how quickly the woman had switched from being an anxious little ball of nerves to lighting up the whole room with her smile. It was admirable, really.</p><p>"Okay, then!" Red said and slowly retreated, smile bright and shiny on her face. "See ya!"</p><p>"See ya," Blue answered a bit slowly.</p><p>Her stomach crawled with something in that moment. It felt like thousands of small wings, beating against the walls of her body's gut, as if she had swallowed a wad of small insects.</p><p>The last bit of the human's mind, for some reason, compared the sensation to butterflies.</p><p>Blue snorted and packed up her things.</p><p>Humans were so fucking weird.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>"So," Brown said as he flipped a switch on the control panel, the scan seemlessly drifting over her body. "You and Red?"</p><p>Blue's neck almost snapped as she looked at him. "What about her?"</p><p>The medic only chuckled wordlessly and shook his head, flipping another switch.</p><p>It had been five months since they had left Blue's planet behind. It went by in a flash, almost - not much had happened and yet, Blue felt as if things kept happening all the time. She lived through emotions she never thought she'd live through and she was fascinated by all of it - so much, in fact, that she forgot to visit the medic's office for two months in a row before Brown eventually found her in a hallway and physically dragged her over to the medbay.</p><p>The medic in question turned towards her, dotting down something on the notepad in his hands before speaking again: "Nothing. You've just... You've grown rather close, haven't you?"</p><p>Blue, for some unexplainable reason, bristled defensively.</p><p>She didn't know how it happened. She just knew that one minute, she was fairly distant from everyone on board, and the next, she had a short red figure following her around almost all the time. After that eventful (and, let's be honest, more than a little awkward) training session a few months back, Red kept inviting her to hang out, and for some reason, Blue always accepted, no matter if it was going for a midnight snack or to fix something together or to play cards or to watch a movie. Red introduced her to more of humanity than Blue was ready for - she introduced her to gummy bears, to cards against humanity, to John Wick, to Netflix, but more than anything she introduced her to a whole fucking lot of very positive emotions.</p><p>Blue was fairly certain Red was her best friend, at this point, but she couldn't fathom what else there could be to their relationship. She told as much to the medic, accompanied by an agressive gesture of her hand that she picked up from Black.</p><p>"Stop moving, you're gonna ruin the scan," Brown immediately scolded her without paying much attention to her words, and Blue started twitching in place even more. "I'm not accusing you of anything."</p><p>"Sounded like it," Blue responded grumpily. Brown chuckled.</p><p>"Call it a professional's curiosity, then," the medic simply said and returned to his writing, leaving Blue alone with her thoughts.</p><p>She tried to ignore how they were all centred around Red for a minute, and promptly failed.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Life onboard was good, was what Blue was trying to say.</p><p>She couldn't feel it in that minute, but it was good.</p><p>The food was good. She liked how it made her insides feel fuzzy and satisfied. She liked how fruit tasted, how bread with butter felt on her tongue. She liked how Green and Lime always argued over the last chocolate bar, and how they always shared it in the end. She liked how Red would always pick out yellow gummy bears for her. She liked the yellow gummy bears, she liked them a lot, but she liked Red a lot more for saving them specifically for Blue.</p><p>Playing chess with Orange was also good. She was slightly scared of the man at first, but she soon discovered that he was actually a giant teddy bear under that cool and collected facade he usually dawned. He invited her to play with him before she was even used to breathing like a human person - she was bound to get attached. Besides, chess proved to be surprisingly fun for what it was - a strategy game of moving around small wooden pieces.</p><p>Who would've thought.</p><p>Blue's other crewmates were also nice. Green was a bit annoying, Purple sang in the shower too loudly, Black picked at her nose too much, Lime believed in ghosts way too strongly, White refused to eat any vegetables, Yellow was a straight-up dick sometimes - but they were all still her crewmates, and she still begrudgingly liked them.</p><p>And then, there was Red.</p><p>Red, with her training sessions. Red, with her wide, bright smile. Red, with her willingness to always help, no matter what. Red, with her yellow gummy bears. Red, with her eyes always shining happily when they looked at her. Red, with her blond hair in a complete and utter mess on early mornings. Red, with all of what made her the person Blue considered to be her best friend. Red, with all her quirks and charms and flaws and all the ways they imprinted on Blue's mind until she couldn't stop thinking about her.</p><p>Her crew made her feel accepted. Red made her feel human.</p><p>And the thing is, everything was alright.</p><p>Everything was doing great.</p><p>Until it wasn't.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Her knees were starting to hurt.</p><p>She shifted slightly to alleviate the pressure on them.</p><p>She immediately regretted it when the suit made a wet popping sound as it was lifted from the puddle of blood on the floor.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>One late evening, Yellow started to shriek in panic over the intercoms.</p><p>Blue was with Orange and Pink, doing readings on a sample they had found, when suddenly, Yellow's voice drifted through the microphone in Blue's helmet, babbling and loud and scared shitless and saying something about being in navigation. Blue was one of the first people to get down there afterwards, startled and concerned, and also one of the first people to see what was happening, and also, unfortunately, one of the first to see everything that entailed.</p><p>Yellow was leaning against a wall, his helmet pulled off and vomiting onto the floor besides a shellshocked, motionless Black. They have backed up into the most distant corner of the room, both shaking breathlessly.</p><p>Before them, on the ground, was Purple's body.</p><p>Or what was left of it, at least.</p><p>Everything devolved into chaos after that - but before the collective weight of her crewmate's screams pulled her under, Blue could remember seeing two things.</p><p>One was the mauled body, with its upper half completely torn apart as if attacked by a rabid animal, a single bullet hole peeking through the back of the suit's helmet.</p><p>And the other was Cyan, looking at her from where he was standing by the door, a red glow still dancing in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>It all spiralled down after that. Rather quickly, even.</p><p>Blue didn't even have time to confront Cyan, or to speak to Pink, because the transformation into whatever the crew then came to was simply too fast.</p><p>Yellow still wasn't speaking. Black was found crying on multiple occasions. Green became way too trigger happy way too fast. White became even snappier than usual. Even Lime withdrew into himself so quickly it was startling.</p><p>Orange was only capable of holding them all together for a while before he started to crack as well under the pressure of one of their crewmates being murdered - and there was absolutely no doubt that Purple had been killed by someone onboard, someone who picked up a gun and shot him in the head and mutilated his corpse to boot.</p><p>There was an impostor among them, and that knowledge took its toll.</p><p>They tried to reach headquarters, but there was only so much they could do from light years away. They were completely on their own.</p><p>But they remained functional. They remained collected, for a short while, even among all the screaming and crying and arguments and threats of throwing people off the ship.</p><p>And then Lime was found stabbed to death in the kitchen, and then everything went to hell.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>The first time Blue voted on the ship, it was because she was loyal to her fellow impostors.</p><p>The second time she voted on the ship, it was to throw one of her fellow impostors off of it.</p><p>She happened to be with Red all up to the moment when she had to make the decision. Funnily enough, life changing decisions for Blue tended to happen a lot when around Red.</p><p>They were looking at the cameras in security together one afternoon. It was supposed to be a completely normal check-up, at least by their decaying ship’s standards. It was supposed to go normally.</p><p>Then Red's mouth opened in silent horror.</p><p>Then, it was just a series of moments for Blue. Just a series of moments that showed her just where exactly her loyalties lay.</p><p>It was the moment when the staticky camera footage showed Pink's figure in the upper reactor, calmly standing there as if without a care in the world while blood pooled around White's corpse on the ground.</p><p>It was the moment when Red turned to her and, without a single word, grabbed her hand and started to run towards the cafeteria.</p><p>It was the moment when Blue realized that they were completely alone and that Red was going to report Pink.</p><p>It was the moment when she remembered all the times threats of throwing people off-board had been brought up during emergency meetings, when she remembered Orange's somber, crumbling expression as he slowly allowed people to vote on it. It was the moment when she remembered the times the votes had landed on Cyan, on Red, on Orange, on her. It was the moment she realized that Pink was going to be, undoubtedly, thrown off, because Red had a lead and a witness to back her up.</p><p>It was the moment when the predator inside of her reared its head and growled for her to get rid of the danger presented to her fellow impostors.</p><p>And, most of all, it was the moment when she decided to ignore it, and a moment less than half an hour later when she slowly raised her hand.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>There was liquid trailing from her eyes.</p><p>She knew what it was. She had only felt it in her host's memories, and only seen it on television and her fellow crewmates, but she knew what it was.</p><p>She almost laughed at the irony of it all, but she knew the sound would come out wrong.</p><p>Not like there was any point at faking it now, though.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Three crew members were dead, everything was shit, the ship was falling apart, and Blue was watching Netflix in the cafeteria with Red.</p><p>In that succession.</p><p>It should all be a bit concerning, at least, but Blue didn't particularly mind. It was nice, finally being alone with Red, especially after the week that was behind them. She didn’t even want to think about it now - didn’t want to think about anything but Red and the romcom in front of her, letting her ignore the memory of Pink’s desperate eyes looking into hers as he was shoved into the airlock and-</p><p>Nope. Nope, not going there.</p><p>They were three episodes into a cheesy romcom which neither of them could focus on when suddenly, Blue felt a hand rest itself on hers, and froze very abruptly.</p><p>"Blue?"</p><p>The show was still running, but somehow, she didn't feel like she was watching it anymore. It all faded to static - all and everything, except the hand on her own.</p><p>Red didn't even look at her as she spoke: "I... I have to ask you something."</p><p>Blue's eyes remained fixed on the screen in front of her. There was only the slightest flicker in her irises that indicated she had heard the words at all.</p><p>The hand shivered, but didn't back away. Neither did hers.</p><p>"Blue."</p><p>The characters on screen were running again. Funnily enough, Blue couldn't comprehend why anymore.</p><p>Wasn’t the show supposed to be distracting her?</p><p>"Blue, please look at me."</p><p>She did, and immediately the air was expelled from her lungs.</p><p>Red was leaned in towards her, way too close to be anything but intimate. She swallowed, and then the hand that was still resting on Blue's gently turned and captured her motionless fingers between Red's own.</p><p>The show in the background faded to nothing but static.</p><p>Red's eyes were as wide as saucers from how close they were to Blue's. They flickered downwards for a second.</p><p>And Blue might've been an impostor, might've been the farthest thing away from human, but she still recognized the gesture for what it was.</p><p>"Oh," she whispered.</p><p>The corners of Red's mouth jumped upwards into a brittle, vulnerable smile. "<em>Oh</em>," she answered.</p><p>Blue wasn't sure which one of them leaned forward first. It was probably Red. It could've very well been her.</p><p>But honestly, when their lips connected, it really, really didn't matter.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Love.</p><p>She shouldn't be able to feel it. Love was a human concept, and Blue was an impostor in its world. She didn't belong there and love didn't belong to her. Love was a chemical that a human brain produced, not a parasite - love was an emotion that a human acted upon, not a mind-controlling puppet.</p><p>And yet, she felt something in that moment, when she and Red kissed.</p><p>Something she shouldn't have felt.</p><p>She shouldn't have felt it.</p><p>She really, really shouldn't have.</p><p>But she did, and now, she was paying the price.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>Everything was melting together.</p><p>The memories, both her own and her host's. The sensations, the sounds of the ship, the remaining stickiness beneath her, the smell of iron in the air all around her. The feelings that swam around in her gut.</p><p>Everything was melting together, and Blue was drowning.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>It had been less than an hour since Red had kissed Blue, and Blue was already very much and very strongly, fucked.</p><p>"We have to talk."</p><p><em>Absolutely</em> fucked.</p><p>It had been less than an hour. Less than an hour since she felt whatever it was that she felt when she kissed Red, since she finally fell down the well she'd been staring at the bottom of ever since coming aboard the ship, it had been less than an hour since Red looked into her eyes and saw something in them that made her value Blue, somehow.</p><p>And now Cyan was cornering her. Alone.</p><p>It had been less than an hour, and everything was already going tits up.</p><p>Blue bit her tongue as Cyan approached her. She didn't know why - she just wanted something to ground her to the reality she was in, the reality in which the only other impostor on the ship was glaring at her in a closed room and blocking the only exit.</p><p>Her heartbeat picked up.</p><p>Cyan gave one last glance to the door before he turned to face Blue fully. He tilted his head only slightly backwards, and even though his lips were moving, Blue somehow couldn't connect the soft, almost harmless tone of his voice to the creature it belonged to. "You were with Red again, weren't you?"</p><p>Blue tensed.</p><p>
  <em>how do you know that, how do you know that, oh god do you also know about- about what happened, back there, oh fuck what if you do, oh fuck oh fuck-</em>
</p><p>"And so what if I was?" she snapped at him, involuntarily taking a step back that he immediately noticed because of course he would notice.</p><p>Cyan's expression didn't change a bit. His posture was rimrod straight, and he was shorter than her for a good few inches, and yet as he stepped forward, Blue suddenly felt very, very small.</p><p>"What do you want?" Blue asked. She tried to ignore how her voice shook. She tried to ignore how something inside of her growled in a very specific way.</p><p>Cyan's eyebrow raised. It was too delicate of an action for him, a lot too delicate, especially for the words that came next.</p><p>"Kill her."</p><p>Blue felt as if she had been punched in the stomach. "What?"</p><p>"You heard me," Cyan whispered, but it didn't feel like a whisper to Blue - more like a shout, more like a growl, more like something that couldn't and didn't belong to a human, and it made her stumble from where she was almost trembling with fear right to the edge of snapping at the implications of it in absolute fucking rage – all in just two words.</p><p>But it was those next words that didn't just push her to the edge; they didn't almost push her there because they threw her over it.</p><p>"Kill her, or <b>I will</b>."</p><p>And suddenly, in just a few seconds, the thing that had been inside her for months now roared, and her face split open.</p><p>She blacked out for a split second.</p><p>If anyone were to walk in at that moment, if anyone saw her stare down at Cyan with her head split cleanly in half, if anyone saw the teeth that sprouted from the fresh wounds and the many, far too many tongues that rolled out, if anyone saw her eyes change to emotionless red pits, if anyone dared to see and scream and run away, it would be game over for her. Cyan could probably still save his own skin, maybe, if he played his cards right - she'd get ejected without the slightest hesitation.</p><p>She knew that, and yet, she didn't stop and when she snarled out her words she made no attempt whatsoever to hide the metallic, inhumane tone to her normally low voice, to calm the shriek behind the words "<b>DoN't yOU FUCKING dArE!</b>"</p><p>It sounded demonic. It sounded wrong.</p><p>Cyan didn't even flinch.</p><p>"You'll compromise our enitre fucking existence on this ship, <em>Blue</em>," he said, not a single tremor in his voice. Red's nickname for her felt dirty when he said it - like it didn't belong to her.</p><p>But it did. She knew it did, and it had to mean something, damnit.</p><p>She snarled without words, and for a second, she was back in the forest, back in the Hive, she was back on her home planet and she was defending something of hers against a rival that refused to back off. For a second she was no longer there, no longer away, no longer anywhere.</p><p>For a second, she was no longer Blue.</p><p>"Blue, calm down," Cyan growled, but his voice still sounded human, he still sounded like he was actually human and that pissed her off because how dare he take a person's skin and wear it and proclaim himself human when she knew he never wanted to be one, how dare he judge her for wanting to be something they all were now, how <em>dare he-</em></p><p>And yet, that fucking impostor continued speaking as if he had any right to do so: "Pink got thrown out because of you."</p><p>"<b>THat WaS his fAULt-</b>"</p><p>"Red reported him," Cyan cut her off, still not flinching even as Blue's stomach pulsed with rage, even as she felt teeth and bile split it open. "She saw him through the cameras, didn't she? You were with her the whole fucking time. You could've stopped her if you just killed her and kept your mouth shut, but you didn't." He took a step towards Blue and she damn near shrieked with anger and yet she didn't attack because she was better than this - but fuck it would be so, so tempting to, especially as he continued: "I'm not letting you ruin everything we've worked for just because you've developed some kind of fixtation with that human."</p><p>Fixation.</p><p>A fucking <em>fixation-</em></p><p>
  <em>those eyes, those cute little freckles, those laughs and smiles and words and oh god you love her don't you you love her you love her you-</em>
</p><p>"<b>If yOu tOuCH heR, yOU'rE FUCKING DEAD,</b>" Blue spat, a thousand of shrieking voices permanating her words.</p><p>And Cyan-</p><p>Cyan smiled.</p><p>Oh, that fucking bastard.</p><p>"You wouldn't," he said, completely non-plussed.</p><p>Blue's teeth bared yet again: "WoUldn't I?"</p><p>"No. No, you wouldn't."</p><p>And then Cyan turned on his heels and walked away.</p><p>And Blue growled even louder, because she knew he was right.</p><p>Even with the creature howling at her for doing so, even when Cyan's back was fully on display for her to see, she only stood there, breathing heavily, as the other impostor walked away seemingly without any worry that she might attack him.</p><p>She was still standing there several minutes after Cyan had turned a corner down the hall and disappeared.</p><p>Blue didn't know how her face stitched itself together after that.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>They never talked about what happened in electrical.</p><p>But from Cyan's smug stares at her from across the room, she knew they didn't need to.</p><p>She just felt the pressure, every day from then on. Day after day of watching out for Red, of always looking behind her shoulder, day after day after day. She stopped sleeping after a while, too afraid to do so, and it didn't help matters. Just-</p><p>Day after day.</p><p>Always the same.</p><p>Always looking behind her back.</p><p>Always drowning depsite having Red by her side.</p><p>She was concerned for Blue - of course she was, she always was, and yet, Blue couldn't muster the courage to turn around and do anything about it, so she kept quiet and tried to hide her growing paranoia from her.</p><p>She couldn't do it.</p><p>She couldn't do it. Not when she knew that Cyan was watching her every move. Not when she knew everyone was paranoid enough to throw her off the ship if she started to act any more weird. Not when she knew that Red was in danger.</p><p>Not when she knew that Red was in danger because of her.</p><p>She tried to ignore the voice in her head telling her to do it, but things were betting harder and harder to ignore when she was underslept and tired and scared and fuck, she loved Red, she loved her, but fuck it was getting so hard to breathe when around her and she felt like she was going to drown and she was barely coherent and she was spiralling, she knew she was and she couldn't stop it and Cyan was still looking at Red and-</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>She should've removed herself from Red.</p><p>She barely remembered the days after the confrontation with Cyan, but she still knew she should've tried harder to remove herself from the situation, harder than she did.</p><p>She should've stopped.</p><p>She should've done anything other than let it run its course.</p><p>She should've recognized how the sleep deprivation was getting to her. She should've recognized how the paranoia was telling her to do things she never, never should've considered otherwise, she should've recognized how scared she was, she should've recognized what she was doing was leading her in only one direction, she should've done <em>something</em>.</p><p>But she didn't.</p><p>And now-</p><p>Blue heard a door open behind her.</p><p>She didn't care.</p><p>She didn't care for anything except Red, except the red of her suit, except the red of her blood on Blue's hands.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="Apple-converted-space">-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>Blue blacked out quite a while ago.</p><p>She should’ve expected it with the sleep-deprivation and stress bombarding her for the last few days. She should’ve known - if she knew, she could’ve gone to bed before just collapsing in the middle of the hallway.</p><p>But then again, she shouldn’t still be moving after having blacked out.</p><p><em>“</em>Blue, what are you doing?”</p><p>Where did Red come from?</p><p>“Red...” she whispered, but it didn’t feel like she was whispering it herself, somehow. She didn’t know what was going on anymore, she didn’t-</p><p>“Blue? Honey, what's going-“</p><p>“I'm sorry.”</p><p>“What for? Blue, please-“</p><p>An inhumane growl left her before she could stop it.</p><p>“...Blue?”</p><p>She turned the knife in her hand and <em>when did she get a knife, what was <b>happening</b>-</em></p><p>“Blue, what are you doing?! What-“ Something crashed on the ground and broke. “Get away from me!”</p><p>“I'm <b>soRrY.</b>”</p><p>“No! No, please! Oh God, please, Blue please- please! I don't want to die, stop it, <em>stop it,</em> no-“</p><p>A wet plunge.</p><p>A scream.</p><p>And then, silence.</p><p>And then, Blue woke up.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>"I knew you could do it."</p><p>Blue didn't look up. She couldn't.</p><p>A sigh came from behind her, and suddenly, she felt a hand on her shoulder. She stiffened on instinct, but didn't lash out nevertheless, her muscles frozen where they were holding Red. Her mouth opened and she could barely move her tongue.</p><p>"I didn't want to," Blue whispered brokenly, on the verge of hysteria. "I don’t know what happened- I just-"</p><p>"Shh," Cyan said, quietly, squeezing her shoulder just a little. It was so unlike him she almost didn't connect him to the Cyan that had pressured her into doing this. "It's okay now."</p><p>Blue growled in the same manner a beaten dog would. "It's <em>not</em>," she hissed, as if in pain, because she <em>was</em> in pain, and suddenly, she found the strength to turn around and look at the other impostor and, very promptly, froze.</p><p>Cyan was covered in blood as well. His suit, his hair, his face, his hands - they were all at the very least splattered with very real, very fresh blood. And yet, that wasn't what made her stop.</p><p>It was the smile on his face.</p><p>"I'm proud of you, Blue," he said, and he was still smiling.</p><p>She was kneeling in her lover's blood, and he was <em>smiling</em>.</p><p>And suddenly, everything that Blue was exploded, and suddenly, her nails grew long and sharp as she swiped towards that fucking impostor, because how fucking <em>dare he-</em></p><p>She barely registered the scream. Barely knew when she got up.</p><p>She was blacking out again, and she couldn’t care less.</p><p>All she could see was Red's blood on her hands, and how Cyan raised his hand slowly to the bleeding cut on his cheek, and how very quickly, his eyes turned red.</p><p>"God, you're fucking pathetic," Cyan growled, his stomach suddenly splitting in half as his suit tore with the force of the claws of the parasite underneath.</p><p>And Blue just fucking lost it.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <b>kill him kill him kill him</b>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>blond hair and grey eyes</em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <b>kill him, make him bleed, make him scream</b>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>you're drowning in her</em>
</p><p>
  <em>you're already drowned</em>
</p><p>
  <em>tear him <b>aPaRt, mAke hiM bEg</b></em>
</p><p>
  <em>because you love<b>D hEr</b></em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <b>kiLl kIll KILL</b>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>Re</em>
</p><p>
  <em>d R</em>
</p><p>
  <em>ed</em>
</p><p>
  <em>R</em>
</p><p>
  <em>ed</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Red</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Red</em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <b>Red</b>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <b>RED</b>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>"Blue? Cyan?"</p><p>She didn't think she'd come back after that.</p><p>She really didn't.</p><p>"G-Guys? You there?"</p><p>Blue blinked.</p><p>She stared at the mutilated corpse underneath her, utterly puzzled. The tentacles still tangled in the corpse's insides slowly began to retreat themselves, but for some reason, she couldn't move the claws from where they were buried in Cyan's digestive track. Her eyes wandered just for a second - just enough to see the severed head thrown across the room.</p><p>Huh. Funny. She didn't remember doing that.</p><p>"Blue-"</p><p>There was a sudden pause, and then, a sudden scream.</p><p>Blue couldn't remember ever feeling as numb as when she turned around to look at the door.</p><p>Brown was stuck to the doorway as if unable to move. Honestly, from the state of the room, she couldn't blame him.</p><p>The medic stared at her in quiet horror. Her own split open, bloodied face stared back, and she felt a trail of blood edge itself right over one of her eyes.</p><p>She didn't even bother to blink.</p><p>Brown's face slowly twisted from shock, to disgust, to absolute and utter terror, and suddenly, he was turning away and running away and he was going to report her, she knew he was, he was going to call a meeting and they were going to throw her off the ship.</p><p>She could stop him. She was covered in blood and her suit was torn in half and her hands were literally buried up to her elbows in entrails, but if she really wanted to she could still stop him. She could easily kill him as cleanly as possible and simply take over an undamaged body. She could still survive, if only she followed.</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>She didn't follow.</p><p> </p><p>
  <span class="Apple-converted-space">-</span>
</p><p> </p><p>Blue was still standing there when the door opened once again.</p><p>She didn't need to look back to know she was outnumbered.</p><p>At least she let go of the corpse beforehand.</p><p>"Put your hands in the air," a quivering voice she recognized as Green's spoke.</p><p>Blue obeyed as she slowly stood from her position on the floor and turned to face the remaining crew.</p><p>There were only three of them. Jesus Christ, there were only <em>three</em> of them, they had killed the rest in cold blood and now there were only Brown, looking more than a little sick, Green, shivering with fear, and Orange-</p><p>Oh god, Orange was looking at her as if he didn't recognize her - as if he couldn't believe the monster that she was behind those shared chess games and dutiful reports.</p><p>They were all silently looking at her, and holding a gun each - as if that would help in case she actually attacked them, but she didn't have the slightest will to do so in that moment.</p><p>Silence.</p><p>She couldn't handle it.</p><p>And so she just exhaled, slowly, emptily, and said: "Let's get this over with."</p><p> </p><p>-</p><p> </p><p>She couldn't remember much of the walk over to the airlock.</p><p>All she could remember was looking at the remaining crew just as they were about to shut the door, and saying: "I'm the last of us." A pause. "Just- Just so you know."</p><p>Green flinched at her voice, but otherwise, the words prompted no reaction.</p><p>She didn't apologize. She knew it would've been meaningless to apologize when she was covered in blood and guts, so she just fell silent after that. She just hoped they believed her, that they considered what she said to be at least vaguely the truth, that they wouldn't turn on one another, too.</p><p>The counter beeped as they looked at one another for the last time. Nothing moved, nothing breathed, nothing happened - their eyes were fixed. Blue didn't even try to put her helmet on - she knew it was fruitless.</p><p>Nothing happened. They just stared, and the counter counted down the second, and they couldn't stop looking at each other.</p><p>And yet, nothing moved.</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>The doors closed.</p><p>The counter stopped.</p><p>And just before the void of the outer space swallowed her up, for the briefest second, all Blue could see was red.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Well, congradulations on getting through this!<br/>Feel free to criticize this work in the comments, I know it’s flawed as hell but I always like getting feedback from readers.<br/>I hope you have a lovely day!<br/>-Author</p></blockquote></div></div>
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